What Is Interval Training Anyway?
March 16, 2009 by nctrower
Filed under Interval Training, Jumpstart Your Metabolism
I have just started to integrate interval training into my fitness plan although I have been an athlete all of my life. My current fitness coach, Holly Rigsby, has really shown me the benefits of short burst resistance training combined with interval training. I have already seen amazing results in a short amount of time.
True Intervals are simply brief, high intensity periods of exercise (where you work out as intensely as you can for your fitness level) alternated with active recovery periods, where you slow down just long enough to catch your breath. Typically this takes place in no more than 10-15 minutes.
I just finished an interval training set which consisted of:
2 minutes of warmup – moving side to side
1 minute of jumping squats at a high intensity
1 minute if recovery movement – moving side to side
1 minute of high knees (running in place but make sure my knees hit my palms at waist level)
1 minute of recovery movement – moving side to side
1 minute of jump rope at a high intensity
Repeat this 1 minute set again, cool down for 3 minutes for a total of a 15 minute workout. It’s also great to change your interval workouts so your body doesn’t plateau. This type of intensity is known for jump starting your metabolism. Here are a few interval training exercises that I alternate with on a daily basis:
Interval Training Options
Jumping Jacks
Jumping Squats
Jump Rope
Sprints – need to go outside for this one
Mountain Climbers
High Knees
Bottom Kickers – running in place but your feet kick your bottom
Even if you don’t have 15 minutes, there is a 4 minute interval that will bring you results due to the intensity called Tabatas. Here is a video of my fitness coach, showing you how to properly get results:
- You will alternate between 20 secs of work and 10 secs of rest
- You will perform this 30 sec interval 8x for 4 total minutes
Holly chose to alternate between DB swings and Mountain Climbers…working at an intensity that matches her fitness level.
Naomi Trower AKA
FatLossMama
QuickMomWorkouts
Club FYM
Good workouts. The thing about tabatas that you didn’t mention; while working on the 20 second/ 10 thing you want to try to increase your reps each set. So if the first set you do 20 swings, you want to try and do 21 in the 20 seconds second time around. Then 22… etc. At the end of the tabata should be doing 28 swing.
deb’s last blog post..HOT By BLOGHER
Thanks Deb,
I also forgot to add that you need to be sure that you are physically fit in order to start tabatas. It is recommended to start off with regular interval training first!